Note: Started composing this a while ago, came back and found @
Tezcatlipoca's post had covered some of the same ground.
Just a quick thought- and too tenuous to be evidence for or against there being a USAP called "Immaculate Constellation"-
-but is that a title that would likely be approved?
The words "immaculate" and "constellation" are in everyday use, but "Immaculate Constellation" has strong echoes of "Immaculate Conception". In this sensitive day and age, might that be seen as irreligious or offensive by some, and therefore not suitable for formal use?
I wondered if those in charge of, e.g. Special Access Programs, get to choose the title. We know US
operations titles sometimes allude to the intended aims- e.g., Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom- but presumably those operations were planned under more discrete titles for security reasons.
There is some (inconclusive) discussion on how US interests select codewords/ nicknames on this thread
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/operation-paperclip-etymology.13168/, Operation Paperclip etymology.
(In UK military use,
codewords are always one word. Active ops have a codeword title.
Nicknames are two words. Most exercises have a nickname title, which
might indicate the nature of the exercise (like U.S.
operations titles, e.g. Desert Storm).
For a codeword, a word is chosen at random from a limited dictionary and given a human review to exclude terms that might coincidentally be connected to the (e.g.) operation, offensive or inappropriate terms, and terms that might invite ridicule.)
(Added after a bit of searching):
Ah, found this, which might be useful- don't know how reliable the website is, but this article seems on the level to me:
From
The Warzone website, Tim McMillan, 01 December 2019
(link) "
Here Is How The Pentagon Comes Up With Code Words And Secret Project Nicknames":
External Quote:
shortly after the close of the Vietnam War, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) decided it was time to formalize the use of code words and nicknames by unveiling the Code Word Nickname and Exercise Term System, colloquially known as NICKA.
...For the Department of Defense (DoD), NICKA is both a set of policies governing the selection of defense monikers and a military-wide computer system that archives and prevents duplication of terms.
Important to note, NICKA is primarily used for Department of Defense-related endeavors. Many operations or programs emerging from within the intelligence community use their own separate naming system.
For example, the Central Intelligence Agency uses the
Cryptonym system for developing code words and names. It is also worth noting that
the National Security Agency (NSA), National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) all use the NICKA system
NICKA outlines three distinctive types of monikers that can be used within the DoD:
-Code Words
-Nicknames
-Exercise Terms
(My emphasis).
The author gives the example of "Oxcart" as the early codeword for the SR-71, and "Tacit Blue" as a NICKA-derived nickname for the (then highly secret) Northrop stealth demonstrator aircraft, both of which hide the meaning of the program.
However, he also mentions that "incorrect" codewords/ nicknames are sometimes generated outside of the NICKA system.
What might be relevant to us, McMillan writes
External Quote:
NICKA guidelines stipulate nicknames are not required, but can be assigned to actual real-world events, projects, or activities. One caveat to "not required" being with
Special Access Programs, which are required to have an unclassified nickname assigned to them.
To cut a long story short, if the hypothetical people in charge of "Immaculate Constellation" had used NICKA, it seems unlikely that title would have been generated or would be used.
It's easy to think up convincing-
sounding codewords and nicknames, even if they wouldn't really be NICKA products:
The 1981 film
Escape From New York referred to special forces units 'Black Light' and 'Texas Thunder', William Gibson's
Neuromancer gave us 'Screaming Fist', a compromised US raid /cyber attack on a computer nexus in Kirensk, Siberia.
David Mace's 1986 military SF novel
Fire Lance tells us a US program, 'Saver Wise', helped fund a new generation of high-tech battleships.